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Civilians at Met to get more officers back on streets
Katharine Barney, Evening Standard27.10.08
BORIS Johnson could slash the number of police under cost-cutting measures across Scotland Yard, the Standard can reveal today.
City Hall sources said the Mayor was investigating whether to replace hundreds of qualified officers with civilian staff to reduce the Met's wages bill.
The plan would see civilian staff brought in to replace trained officers in back-room jobs, such as police station receptions, custody suites and data-input positions. Staff would not be sacked but replaced with civilians when they retire or move.
Critics immediately criticised the move, claiming it would lead to an increase in the fear of crime.
But those involved in the discussions argue the changes would lead to more effective policing with warranted officers spending more time on the streets, tackling and investigating crime.
No changes will be made to police numbers this year but senior officers have been asked to look at how the force could operate more effectively.
Deputy Mayor for Policy Kit Malthouse said: "At the moment it takes four hours for an officer to arrest someone and deal with all the paperwork.
"If I can get that down to 20 minutes then we get them back out on to the streets to do their real job but I may well lose a few coppers along the way.
"There will be no decrease in numbers this year but we have to make the Met as effective as possible and civilianise where we can. If people want to vote for someone else because I've made the Met a more efficient force with fewer people then the lunatics have won."
He said the Mayor also wanted to cut the number of officers on long-term sick leave from 2,500 to 1,000 at any time.
James Cleverly, deputy leader of the Tory group and member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said: "The top-line number of police officers is relatively meaningless. It's a nice easy soundbite for politicians to be able to say they've increased numbers but it should not be used as a political football. We are in a tight financial situation and we're having to make sure we are policing London as effectively as possible and giving senior officers more autonomy.
"There's an awful lot of frustration in the police not being able to get more police out policing because of politics. It's a brave move, but if you're keeping police officers on the books just to say they are there, then you're doing everyone a disservice."
Mr Cleverly said the MPA wanted police to be able to spend more time on the streets rather than pursuing admin work. He estimated there were "many hundreds" of jobs within the Met that could be carried out by civilian staff.
The proposed changes could help find the £76 million savings in the MPA budget ordered by Mr Johnson, which includes relocating the board to City Hall.
It follows the Home Office's introduction of Designated Detention Officers in some custody suites, who carry out roles such as taking DNA samples.
But critics say the move will reduce public confidence in the Met. A senior City Hall source said: "People don't want to hear numbers are falling, they want more police, however you frame it."
The news follows an admission from Mr Johnson that more than half London boroughs failed to meet recruitment targets last month. The Mayor also refused to rule out a drop in frontline policing but said he thought it "highly unlikely".
Answering a question from Lib-Dem Assembly member Dee Doocey, he said of the 32 boroughs policed by the Met, 18 had missed the target for police numbers and 27 missed their targets for Police Community Support Officers.
A report by Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Ronnie Flanagan this year said the number of officers in England and Wales would have to be reduced.
Reader views (10)
Police officers do not trust civilians and will thwart any attempt to use civilians even if the job is clerical.
Why spend money on training when that person sits at a desk all day and says, "Smith. Smith. John Smith. Is there a John Smith here?" or "Inspector Brown will see you now."
Their skills are better used on patrols and response.
- John, Detroit USA
As a former member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, the body which holds the Met to account, I have in the recent past praised Kit Malthouse for being one of the Mayor's team who at least have a decent grasp of the brief. But a word of advice. It's all very well to talk about bringing down the time to process an arrest from 4 hours to 20 minutes using 'civilian' staff, thus putting police officers back on the beat...and then being in a position to drop numbers of police officers. But the process has to be transparent, it has to be clear that it is not simply a way to cut costs on police officer numbers - ie we lose those 'few coppers' Mr Malthouse talks about but we do not get the benefits he suggests. So we need the time cuts first, validated, before taking further action on cutting police officer numbers. The last thing we want is a momentum of increasing 'civilian' and PSCO numbers while cutting the numbers of professional police officers.
- Damian Hockney, London, UK
not that it matters, the last time i went into a police station the civilian desk operator could not understand plain english!
- Nick Bacon, london, uk
Why do you think more police staff means worse policing? It should mean better policing, as instead of sticking a qualified and expensive police officer behind a desk, you stick her out on the streets, actually policing, whilst the purely administrative tasks are performed by someone earning about 2/3 of her wage.
If this is done effectively, it will be a good idea.
- The Other Jk, SE Lunnon
As long as we get real police on the streets of London, not just in Westminster around government offices, day and night, and not those plastic Communist Supporters Officers. It should be those CSO halfwits who should stay in the offices!
- Jacqueline, Hampstead, London
Qualified olice officers have a detailed knowledge of the law, which is needed whether they're fronting the desk or processing charges. Similarly, custody duty requires advanced skills in first-aid and being able to spot medical and similar problems, which warranted officers are trained for. In short, to do the job properly so-called 'civilian' staff would need the same training as police officers.
- Bob Peel, Camden
Oh ha ...uummm. These articles are aimed at bringing out the worst and lowest base gut feelings that everybody has. Its past comment, because that does no good. All we all want is more Police on the streets and less paperwork for them... pretty simple really.
- Bondy, London
Good luck with getting that prisoner processing time down to 20 minutes Mr Malthouse. You might want to talk to the CPS and the Home Office about the ridiculous and impractical hoops officers have to jump through to get a suspect charged. Funny how it worked fine with the police doing it themselves for 170 years or so until only recently. It would be nice if CPS lawyers at station level worked WITH the police and not AGAINST them. The reason so many police officers are used in the communications centres for example is because they couldn't recruit enough civilians of the right standard and who were prepared to work the shifts necessary. Police officers also cannot strike and can be ORDERED to do things that civilian support staff can't or won't. Warrant holding crown officers provide all the robust resilience and flexibility needed.
Surely legislation will have to be enacted to enable much of these plans too? How long will that take?
As for the PCSO community (what an overused word community is), again, what is the point of them?
You will also get more operational officers on the streets if you left local policing priorities to local commanders and stopped all the social engineering that goes on at the centre.
Every new utterance about modern policing suffers from the same thing it has done since the late 1980's 'too many ignorant cooks sticking their oars in' - (apologies for the mixed metaphors).
- Ranter, Maidstone, UK
More policing on the cheap, just like Community Support Officers. They don't want to spend the money training proper police officers. I don't remember this being in Boris' election manifesto.
- Mick, London, England
There's too many police on restricted duties just doing desk work and too few on the streets and they do not mix with the PCSO Community
- Pc Miss, London
